Butler Tech Natural Science Center Celebrates Grand Opening

Butler Tech Natural Science Center ribbon cutting

Ceremony

Butler Tech Natural Science Center (BTNSC) held its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday morning. The event started with a meet-and-greet inside the building. Later, Superintendent/CEO, Jon Graft gave a welcome speech and recognized the Matson family for their generous donation of the land that BTNSC sits on. Comments from students and local dignitaries followed. After the speeches, the crowd moved outside for the ribbon cutting.

School and Campus

After the ceremony, students led tours of the new building. The new center houses BTNSC’s Equine Science Program, Veterinary Science Program, and in 2023, its new Green Engineering Program. The driveway leading to the building is lined with newly planted apple trees, a nod to its former use as a fruit farm. As you approach the building, you’ll notice it has a barn-like feel. This is deliberate. Student and alumni involvement played a large part in the design of the new building. After years of being educated in modular classrooms, they felt that a “modern barn” was the right look and feel for their new facility. With this in mind, MSP incorporated all their wants and needs into the building design. In addition, the building itself provides learning opportunities. For instance, students can view building mechanics through special internal windows. Exposed beams and ceilings show how the building was constructed. As a result, the facility is open and airy with modern classrooms and labs with state-of-the-art technology.

To further illustrate the barn concept, centrally located on the first floor is a large open gathering space. It serves as a lunch/study space that easily converts to a school-wide assembly area. A unique wide staircase provides additional seating/gathering space with regular and oversized steps. Also, large garage doors can be opened to allow natural light and wind to come through, giving a feeling of being outdoors. Finally, no barn would be complete without a weathervane, so Butler Tech students created and constructed a unique weathervane to top the building.

MSP is proud to be a design partner with Butler Tech and support its mission to “transform lives by making our students career-ready and college-prepared.”

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